Debunk claim:

Ukraine’s official Statistical Agency shows a somewhat different picture. Ukraine’s Economy and Trade Ministry presented the country’s budget for 2017 with a projected GDP growth of 3%, 8% inflation and unemployment at less than 9%. Neither do Ukrainian experts see the sanctions as destroying Ukraine’s economy. Instead, the situation is pushing Ukraine to develop new technologies, improve the quality of Ukrainian products and search for new markets. http://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-russia-sanctions-running-ukrainian-economy-into-the-ground/ // In contrast, the Russian economy has been in recession for the past 18 months: http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/11/news/economy/russia-economy-recession-six-quarters/